Ex-Wichita landlords sued over tenant sexual harassment claims settle for $160,000
Two Wichita landlords sued over claims their female tenants were sexually harassed have agreed to settle the case for $160,000.
The U.S. Justice Department announced Friday that Thong Cao and Mai Cao will pay $155,000 to 11 former tenants “harmed as a result of the sexual harassment” as well as $5,000 in civil penalties. A consent order filed with the court also bars the Caos from being residential landlords or managers in the future, according to a news release.
An attorney for the Caos, Stephen Netherton, said Friday by email that the parties agreed to resolve the case without a trial to avoid “protracted and costly litigation.” The court “never determined that the accusations against Mr. and Mrs. Cao have any merit,” he wrote.
The settlement ends a Fair Housing Act lawsuit filed in 2017 after two of the Caos’ former renters complained about Thong Cao’s conduct to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The lawsuit accused Thong Cao of sexually harassing female tenants as early as 2009 through 2014, including repeatedly asking them for sex to pay for rent, touching their breasts or buttocks, and evicting women who refused his advances.
One woman complained that Cao went into her apartment unannounced and touched her while she slept, the lawsuit says.
Mai Cao was sued because she owned or co-owned properties were the women were harassed. The pair owned and operated at least five Wichita rental properties, including in the 6100 block of West York Court, in the 800 block of North Oliver and in the 800 block of Glendale.
At the time, Thong Cao was doing business as Cao Properties and Rentals.
“Sexual harassment of women in their homes is indecent, destructive, and illegal,” Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband for the Civil Rights Division said in the justice department news release.
“Access to fair housing is every person’s right,” U.S. Attorney Stephen R. McAllister for the District of Kansas said in the release. “Landlords, property managers and their employees are legally prohibited from making sexual favors a condition of obtaining or maintaining a place to live.”
Two other property owners named as defendants in 2017 complaint were dismissed from the case last March, court records show.
The justice department launched an initiative in October 2017 to combat sexual harassment in housing. Since then it has filed or settled 18 cases and has recovered more than $2.7 million for victims.
Anyone who thinks they are a victim of sexual harassment or other forms of housing discrimination can make a report to the Housing Discrimination Tip Line at 1-800-896-7743, the Justice Department at fairhousing@usdoj.gov, or with HUD at 1-800-669-9777 or www.hud.gov/program_offices/fair_housing_equal_opp/online-complaint.
This story was originally published January 17, 2020 at 3:52 PM.
